MY NOBEL FRIENDBy:

IVY L. LIBRANDO

Ahmed H. Zewail

Ahmed H. Zewail

1999 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

Childhood of Zewail

Born on February 26, 1946 in Damanhur, Alexandria, Egypt.

He was the only son in a family of three sisters and two loving parents.

Fascinated by how science and technology worked, and in an attempt to produce wood gas, he nearly set his bedroom aflame.

On another occasion, the young Zewail decided to take his uncle’s car out for a spin. He’d never had a driving lesson, but he’d learned how a car operated—in theory.

Zewail’s inclinations were toward the physical sciences.

Zewail studied chemistry at the University of Alexandria.

He scored excellent in Chemistry and was chosen for a group of seven students (called “special chemistry”), an elite science group.

In 1967, he graduated with the highest honors – “Distinction with First Class Honor” – with above 90% in all areas of chemistry.

On the research side, he finished the requirements for a Masters in Science in about eight months, his subject was spectroscopy.

Education

In 1969, he went to America and pursued his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1973, the research for his Ph.D. and the requirements for a degree were essentially completed.

Early in 1974, he moved west to the University of California at Berkeley, excited by the new opportunities.

In 1976, he joined at Caltech (California Institute of Technology), arriving with a raft of published scholarly papers in chemistry and physics to his credit.

Education

A femtosecond is an excruciatingly short period of time.

One femtosecond is one millionth of one billionth of a second.

The fraction is written as 10-15 in scientific notation.

The word comes from the Swedish word femton, “fifteen”.

What is a Femtosecond?

Molecules, like everything in nature, seek the lowest possible energy state.

Zewail showed that when excited by a laser pulse for a few femtoseconds, the molecule goes through a two-stage transition, center, in which two of the four carbon atoms break apart, while the other two remain bonded.

Zewail and Femtochemistry

By showing the properties of the transition state—by opening chemical transition states to observation and thus prediction and perhaps manipulation—Zewail created “femtochemistry.”

Why He Won the Prize?

Using his laser technique, Zewail was the first person to find out how long it takes for atoms and molecules to form and to break chemical bonds. 

The 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Ahmed Zewail "for his studies of the transition states of chemical reactions using femtosecond spectroscopy".

Zewail developed what many have described as the world's fastest camera.

Current Research

To develop the field of 4D electron microscopy for the direct visualization of materials and biological behavior.

In the four dimensions of space and time, both the structure and dynamics of nanomachines can be imaged, and the applications range from atoms to cells.

Family of Zewail

In March of 1989, he went to receive the award from Saudi Arabia, and there he met Dema.

They met in March, got engaged in July and married in September, all of the same year, 1989.

Dema has her M.D. from Damascus University, and completed a Master's degree in Public Health at UCLA.

They have two young sons, Nabeel and Hani, and two daughters, Maha, a Ph.D. student at the University of Texas, and Amani, a junior at Berkeley.

PublicationsArticles Some 500 articles (authored and co-

authored) have been published in the fields of science, education, and world affairs.

Books

Dr. Zewail has many scientific books in the field of physical chemistry, some of his books are:

Publications

Patents

Luminescent Solar Energy Concentrator Devices. A. H. Zewail and J. S. Batchelder, California

Institute of Technology U.S. Pat. 4,227,939, October 14, 1980

Method and System for Ultrafast Photoelectron Microscope.

A. H. Zewail and V. A. Lobastov, California Institute of Technology

U.S. Pat. 7,154,091, December 26, 2006

Positions and AppointmentsAcademic Position

Director, Physical Biology Center for Ultrafast Science & Technology, Caltech (2005-)

Director, NSF Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Caltech (1996-2007)

Linus Pauling Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Physics, Caltech (1995-)

Presidential Appointments

President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (2009-)

United States First Science Envoy (2009-)

2010- PhD Honoris Causa in Humane Letters from Southwestern University

2009- Honorary PhD in arts and sciences by the University of Jordan

2008- PhD Honoris Causa from Complutense University in Madrid

2006- Honorary Doctorate in Science by Cambridge University

2003 - PhD Honoris Causa by Lund University in Sweden

member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Honorary Degrees

“ after years of researching the dynamics of chemical bonds, I look forward to helping forge new bonds among nations. ”

--A.H. Zewail (scientist-diplomat)

Thank you for listening.